My criticisms are always simple; they are limited to one word:MOmit! Every syllable that can be struck out is pure profit, and eve...ry page that can be economised is a five-per-cent dividend. Nature rebels against this rule; the flesh is weak, and shrinks from the scissors; I groan in retrospect over the weak words and useless pages I have written; but the law is sound, and every book written without a superfluous page or word is a masterpiece. All the same, no one cares to apply so stern a law to another person. One has right to be severe only with oneself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

There will be a new church founded on moral science, at first cold and naked, a babe in a manger again, the algebra and mathematic...s of ethical law, the church of men to come, without shams, or psaltery, or sackbut; but it will have heaven and earth for its beams and rafters; science for symbol and illustration; it will fast enough gather beauty, music, picture, poetry. Was never stoicism so stern and exigent as this shall be. It shall send man home to his central solitude, shame these social, supplicating manners, and make him know that much of the time he must have himself to his friend. He shall expect no cooperation, he shall walk with no companion.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Thus is Paradise to be Regained, and that old and stern decree at length reversed. Man shall no more earn his living by the sweat ...of his brow. All labor shall be reduced to "a short turn of some crank," and "taking the finished articles away." But there is a crank,--oh, how hard to be turned! Could there not be a crank upon a crank,--an infinitely small crank? Mwe would fain inquire. No,--alas! not.... In fact, no work can be shirked. It may be postponed indefinitely, but not infinitely. Nor can any really important work be made easier by coöperation or machinery. Not one particle of labor now threatening any man can be routed without being performed. It cannot be hunted out of the vicinity like jackals and hyenas. It will not run. You may begin by sawing the little sticks, or you may saw the great sticks first, but sooner or later you must saw them both.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Y'know, George, I feel that in a small way we're doing something important. It's satisfying a fundamental urge. It's deep in the r...ace for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace. And we're helping him get those things in our shabby little office.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Gentlemen, I did not seek this command, but since it's been assigned me, I intend to make this regiment the best on the frontier. ...I fully realize that prolonged duty in a small outpost can lead to carelessness and inefficiency and laxity in dress and deportment. I call it to your attention that only one of you has reported here this morning properly dressed. The uniform, gentlemen, is not a subject for individual whimsical expression. We're not cowboys at this post or freighters with a load of alfalfa.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Nature in darkness groansAnd men are bound to sullen contemplation in the night:...Restless they turn on beds of sorrow; in their inmost brainFeeling the crushing wheels, they rise, they write the bitter wordsOf stern philosophy & knead the bread of knowledge with tears & groans.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »